Can Someone Explain Grading To Me?

[MMarch]

I went and read the Beckett Grading Service website, couldn't find anything on how they determine final grade after figuring the sub-grades. Not sure how they come up with an overall grade, I guess it would be too simple to take the total of the 4 subgrades, divide by 4, and either round up or down accordingly. For example, I just picked up a card that has a final grade of BVG 6.5. The subgrades are:

8.5
6
8.5
6.5

In my happy little mind, the total of the four grades is 29.5 - if you divide by 4 it is 7.375. In my mind, you would round down and the final grade would be a 7. How do they come up with 6.5? Wondering minds want to know.

 

[kovyheater]

The lowest grade is weighted heaviest.
Since you got a 6 on the corners and 6.5 on surface, the 8.5 on centering and edges are meaningless.

 

[DredJAw]

I'm pretty sure, the overall grade can't be 0.5 more (or less) than the lowest grade. Since your lowest grade is 6... and all the grades are higher, the highest grade you can get is 6.5.

 

[MMarch]

Thanks for the info. I guess this confirms that I don't want to send vintage cards into Beckett for grading if that's the scale they use. The corners certainly don't warrant a 6, they were very picky on this one. But, I don't get paid to grade 'em so that's the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[2fnlo]

You can't get any better than 0.5 above your lowest grade, as mentioned. I just wanted to confirm that for you.

 

[lumm0x]

It is also a service weighing heavily on a single opinion or at best that of only a few individuals. Now I am sure these opinions are likely on the more informed side of the spectrum, but inconsistencies have been seen frequently. I know I have cracked slabs and re-graded in the past for better results between the big 2 companies. And I have a couple cards that are blatantly not the grade they received. If you feel the card was misgraded then crack it and try again with PSA or back at BGS again.

 

[frankiefives]

I for one find grading to be ridiculous. It will always depend on which "grader" you get that day. It's so subjective. It's a total waste of money if you ask me

 

[lumm0x]

I for one find grading to be ridiculous. It will always depend on which "grader" you get that day. It's so subjective. It's a total waste of money if you ask me

I completely agree with one exception. Years ago when I was into vintage football cards it made sense to involve grading into the equation for me. Some of the higher end vintage cards were infected with counterfeit copies and also odd ball sizing issues. The encapsulating was a good and consistent protection measure and grading was, if nothing else, a slightly better hope of not having fake cards. I too found grading to be erratic and erroneous too often and cannot fathom paying exponentially more for a card deemed a 9.5 than one I can see raw as close to perfect as I care to evaluate it. The realistic difference between what becomes an average 9.0 and a 9.5 or 10 is almost negligible. I don't consider a minutely better condition copy to be worth 10 times it's raw counterpart. But you cannot argue that some are hypnotized by the allure of graded cards.

 

[MMarch]

I for one find grading to be ridiculous. It will always depend on which "grader" you get that day. It's so subjective. It's a total waste of money if you ask me

I don't really see the point of grading newer cards, but there is certainly cause and reason to grade vintage cards. Too many were faked, trimmed, or mis-represented by the seller grade wise. If you are patient, you can actually pick up graded singles in decent grades for less then some people pay for ungraded copies. A fast example, I would rather have a 1972 Ken Dryden PSA8 in my collection that cost me less then the cost to actually get it graded, then a non-graded version that costs less. Why buy an ungraded version for $5 when you are trusting what someone who wants to sell it says the grade is, when you can get one graded an 8 for $9?

 

[cards-gotta-go]

One thing that has come up in other threads but not here:

Do not use BGS for vintage cards - PSA is better.

 

[hextall27]

Ya BGS tears up vintage - I just seen some nice older hockey returened at 4 and 5's i swear could've been 7-8 with PSA.